How to practice cross-rhythm
A talented student of mine is currently working on Chopin’s famous Fantasie Impromptu. The obvious challenge here is the cross-rhythm: right hand sixteenth notes against left hand triplets. I have devised the following 10-step guide to help my student nail this:
1. Practice each hand separately, very slowly, make every note extra louder than normal.
2. Practice each hand separately, still very slowly, but instead of making every note extra louder, just accent the first note of each group – first note of the group of four sixteenth notes in right hand and first note of triplet group in left hand.
3. Put hands together, one hand extra louder than the other, still very slowly – you can choose which hand you want to play loud first, although it is often a good idea to play the non-melody hand louder first, as that is often where the problem is.
4. Repeat step 3, but instead of making every note extra louder, just accent the first note of each group.
5. Repeat steps 3 and 4, but make the other hand louder this time.
6. Play “normal” (musically, without the exaggerated accents, and bring out melody), but still under speed.
7. Repeat step 6, gradually increase tempo.
8. By now you should just “feel” the music; DO NOT over-analyze mathematically.
9. Consciously make yourself listen to each hand, as soon as unevenness is heard, repeat steps 1-5.
10. Even when the desired tempo is eventually reached and the cross-rhythm seems right, it is still important to repeat the above steps every now and then, especially the “slow practice” part!
I hope others may find this guide helpful!
Hi Yiyiku-
I am trying to understand this method that you are referring to, as I have a new student who’s mother desires me to teach her daughter a beginning level of piano in the solfege method. “Minor” detail: while I am familiar with solfege and the basics of it (as in, the names of do, re, mi, etc.) I simply do not understand how you, as a teacher, would transfer teaching solfege to beginners to teaching the students in reading music so that their musicality advances beyond just mimicking an order (pattern, set up by the teacher) of solfege tones and movements. Doesn’t the teacher still have to teach a student how to read music? Doesn’t a student still have to learn the basic difference between a quarter note and a half note? How does starting with solfege aid this whole process of learning music?
Dear Ruth,
Thanks for commenting. Please do not confuse solfege with the suzuki method. Learning in solfege does not mean mimicking patterns set up by the teacher. Learning in solfege can and should be done alongside learning basic theory such as note values, the only difference is that English letters are not used, but instead the solfege names. The advantage is that students learn to think of notes as actual pitches, rather than speech sounds such as letters C, D, E. Why do you think that students who learn in solfege can not read music? they are simply naming the notes in a different “language” – their ability to read is no less than those who learn with letters (example: people in different countries have different names for numbers, but the fundamental principle of addition and subtraction is the same; just because someone does not pronounce “1” as”one”, does not mean they can not add or subtract!)
Teaching in solfege does not mean merely substituting letter names with solfege names. The teacher must be fluent in solfege themselves and always refer to the notes in their actual pitches, so when you say “Do-Re-Mi”, you are not saying, but you are really singing. In fact, singing is a big part in solfege training. In the first year or so, students and teachers must be singing out aloud everything they do. Eventually, the singing happens in the mind, and students automatically sing everything they play. This makes their playing more musical. In my opinion, the biggest advantage of teaching a student in solfege is that the student, if started young enough, and if the training is correct, will inevitably have perfect pitch – it is natural, and they can not help not have it. If they student is older, or if the training is not complete, they will still benefit by having a much better sense of relative pitch. I do want to stress that having perfect pitch is not necessary in order to be a good musician, but it does help a lot! Another advantage for learning in solfege is ease of memory – students memorize more easily.